Week of Jun 29, 2026
22 changes logged the week of Jun 29, 2026, 2 high impact; 8 took effect. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- Third-party rates for hotel ads to be retired after September 30, 2026; affected Hotel campaigns stop serving
Google added a notice to the Hotel Center help page saying the third-party rates feature, used by Hotel Ads and Performance Max for travel goals campaigns without a direct price feed, will be unavailable after September 30, 2026. Affected Hotel campaigns will stop serving across all Hotel Ads inventory, including the Booking Module and Travel Promotion Ads, while Performance Max for travel goals campaigns keep serving on Search, Display and YouTube. Source
- Performance Max product reporting became segmentable by asset group, with audience segment views
Advertisers began seeing product-level metrics broken down per PMax asset group and audience segments in the Products view. Source
- France crypto ads no longer accept AMF DASP registration; MiCA CASP authorization required
Google stopped accepting AMF Digital Asset Service Provider registrations for crypto exchange and wallet ads targeting France; advertisers must hold CASP authorization under MiCA. Source
- Alcohol policy expanded to permit alcohol ads in 28 additional countries
From July 28, 2026, alcohol advertising is permitted, up to region-specific ABV limits, in 28 more countries including Brazil, Finland, Iceland, Kenya, South Korea, Vietnam and many African markets. Source
- AI-generated summaries began appearing beneath Search ad descriptions in a small experiment
Darcy Burk shared screenshots of AI summaries under sponsored results with a disclaimer that Google AI responses can make mistakes. Google confirmed it as a small experiment; Brodie Clark spotted the same treatment on Shopping ads July 30. Source
- Performance Max channel performance gained a diagnostics view listing missing or rejected assets per channel
Aleksejus Podpruginas first reported the diagnostics panel on LinkedIn; it was not yet in all accounts. Source
- Bid Target Adjustment Tool released July 6 ahead of the August 17 target-based bidding change
A new tool, reachable from the account notifications banner or the Campaigns page bidding settings (and in Search Ads 360), lets advertisers review campaigns that were limited by budget over the past 12 months and keep, lower or replace their CPA/ROAS targets before the August 17 change. Source
- A 'Shorts ads actions' column tracking likes, comments and shares was added to the column picker
Arpan Banerjee spotted the new YouTube Shorts engagement column, which can go negative when removed engagement exceeds new engagement. Source
- Default Ads Treatment policy renamed 'Categories restricted while Google is estimating a user's age'
Google renamed and clarified the policy that restricts adult, alcohol and gambling ads while a user's age is being estimated; enforcement is unchanged and no advertiser action is needed. Source
- Sponsored results tested an open-in-new-window icon after the displayed URL
Sachin Patel and Khushal Bherwani documented the icon on X; Google did not confirm. Source
- The 'All campaigns' selector was redesigned with an expandable hierarchy and search
Vivek Gupta spotted the new selector layout on LinkedIn; it was rolling out gradually. Source
- Unsolicited 'book a call with your Google Ads expert' emails gained an unsubscribe option
Emmanuel Flossie found that third-party (XWF) expert outreach emails can now be unsubscribed from, though Google's own rep emails cannot. Source
Merchant Center
- Checkout ("Buy now") links expanded to Indonesia, France, Mexico, Argentina, Israel, Poland and Australia
Merchants based in these seven countries can now enable checkout links in Merchant Center, adding a Buy now call-to-action that sends ready-to-buy shoppers straight from a listing to the merchant's cart or checkout page. Source
Google Tag & Tag Manager
- GTM Overview page redesigned; triggers, variables and templates moved under a collapsible Advanced section
The Tag Manager Overview was streamlined with a container-wide Settings section and an entity activity table, while triggers, variables, templates and folders moved to a collapsible Advanced area; the workspace switcher was hidden by default and can be restored in user settings. Source
Microsoft Ads
- Uplift and Upgrade experiments launched for Performance Max
Uplift experiments measure incremental conversions or value from adding Performance Max alongside other campaigns; Upgrade experiments compare an existing campaign with a Performance Max version before migrating. Available under Campaigns > Experiments. Source
- View-through conversions extended to Multimedia ads
View-through conversion tracking now covers Multimedia ads in addition to Audience campaign ads and audience-targeted Search ads. Source
- 18% VAT charged on Sri Lankan accounts without a valid VAT ID
From July 1, 2026 Microsoft Advertising collects 18% VAT from Sri Lanka accounts unless a valid VAT ID is on file. Source
- Restricted Pharmacy and Healthcare policy reorganized with a market-specific section covering 130+ markets
The policy relabeled the online pharmacy section, consolidated European cross-border rules and added market-specific policies without changing substantive rules for prescription drugs, weight loss or supplements. Source
- Neustar added as a Customer Match data partner
Neustar joined ActionIQ, Adobe Advertising Cloud, Salesforce, Zapier and others as an integration for uploading Customer Match lists. Source
- Sports betting and online casino ads permitted in Alberta, Canada
The Gambling and Games policy was updated to allow licensed sports betting and online casino advertising in Alberta. Source
ChatGPT Ads
- OpenAI job listings pointed to image, video, native, conversational and interactive ad formats in development
Search Engine Journal reported OpenAI careers listings for engineers to build image, video, native, conversational and interactive ad formats across ChatGPT surfaces, beyond the headline-description-image-link unit in market. Source
Search Console
- Discover and Generative AI in Discover reports under-reported data for June 24, 2026
Google logged a data anomaly: a logging error caused a decrease in clicks and impressions on the Discover Performance report and lower reported impressions in the Generative AI in Discover report for June 24, 2026. Source
Took effect this week
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